Toy savings-bank.



No. 627,727. Patented lune 27, |899. J. E. FERLAND.

TOY SAVINGS BANK.

(Application led Dec. 21, 1898.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT -OEEICE TOY SAVINGS-BAN K.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 627,727, dated June 27, 1899.

Application filed December 21, 1898. Serial No. 699,916. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JosEPH E. FERLAND, of Lawrence, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Savings- Banks, of which the following is a specication.

This invention has relation to toy savingsbanks employing a receptacle for coins, a register operated by the insertion of a coin, and locking mechanism operated when a certain number of coins have been deposited to allow the coins to be removed.

I The invention has for its object to improve the registering mechanism and devices for operating the same and also to improve the general structure of articles of this character, as will be more fully hereinafter described, and set forth in the claims.

0f the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l represents a front elevation of a toy savings-bank constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a vertical transverse section through the same. Fig. 3 represents a vertical longitudinal section through the same with the lower part of the casing omitted. Fig. il represents a detail perspective view of the spring member employed. Fig. 5 represents a detail view of parts shown in Fig. 3, illustrating the positions occupied by themY after the insertion of a coin.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

Referring to the drawings, a designates the casing, preferably composed of cast-iron and having its front, bottom, and sides -in one piece, while the back 2 is made as a separate piece and engaged with the bottom of the casing by means of a dowel or projection a', entering a hole in said bottom, the top edge of said back when in place taking under the upper edge (L15 of the main body. The back 2, which may be said to constitute a door for the casing, is also normally locked to the main body of the casing by means of a springcatch a2, having a hook c3 at its forward end, which engages a pin or stud a4, projecting from one side of the casin g and constituting a keeper for the catch co2. The lower part of the casing, as will be seen in Fig. 2, isconstructed as a receptacle for the coins b. Said coins are inserted in the bank through a coin-V slot a5 in the upper part of the front side of the casing. In order to prevent the insertion of a wire or other instrument to tamper with the index mechanism, presently to be described, a horizontal rearwardly-projecting shelf a is shown as provided, forming the floor of the slot a5. The coin is inserted part way in the slot and is then flicked or given a light blow with the finger to send it beyond the rear edge of the shelf d, or the bank may be tilted backward until the coin slides over said edge. Vhen the coin is inserted, it enters an upper chamber a7 in the top of the casing, and in falling it strikes against an inclined lip a8, forming the bottom of the said chamber a7, and is guided thereby onto a lever c. The coin occupies an upright position when it strikes said lever, being confined between the front of the casing a and the downwardlybent lower end of the lip as. The lever c is pivoted to a stud c on the casing a and normally has its end 4 resting underneath`an abutment 6 on one side of the casing, while the heel 5 of the lever c is normally in the path of an abutment 7, formed on a slide el. The latter extends across the upper part of the casing, having one end guided by a recess 8, formed in one side of the casing, and the other end projecting through a slot 9 in the other side of the casing and bent up outside of the casing to form a handle or lip d.

To the under side of the slide d is attached by rivets c' e one end of a spring member e, whose form is represented in Fig. 1l. The eX- tremity of the latter is bent downwardly to form a spring-pawl l2, which engages ratchetteeth f f', formed on the edge of 'an index or registering wheel f, the latter being pivoted on a stud a9, cast on the front of the casing c. The intermediate portion of the spring e is riveted to the side of the casing a by means of the keeper-stud a4, and its extreme lower end isl bent up and acts as a check-pawl 13 for the registeringdisk f. A very narrow portion lO of the spring member e extends upwardly and engages a pin c3 on the heel 5 of ,the lever c, exerting a downward pressure on said pin, which normally holds the lever in the position shown in Fig. 3.

al@ is an angular web cast integrally with the back 2 of the casing a and forming two IOO partitions I5 and 16, which are so disposed as to prevent the coins already deposited in the bank from getting lodged in the working mechanism when the bank is inverted or agitated. The web projects across the casing and at its angle abuts against and engages the stud at.

The operation of the device is as follows: Normally the slide d is prevented from operating by the action of the lever c, which acts as a stop for said slide when no coin is present. When a coin is inserted, it depresses the end l of the lever, overcoming the tension of the spring IO, which is very light, and moves the heel 5 of said lever out of the path of the abutment 7 on the slide d'. The lever assumes the position represented by full lines in Fig. 5. The spring 10 straightens out and temporarily prevents further turning of the lever on its pivot, and the coin rolls down said lever until arrested between the lever and an abutment 11i on the easing a. Then upon the slide d being pressed inwardly by a person the spring l0 acts as a rigid positive connection between the slide and lever, turning the latter further on its pivot, as represented by the dotted lines in Fig. 5, and releasing the coin, which falls to the bottom of the casing, while at the same time the pawl l2 acts to rotate the registering-wheelf a distance of one tooth. Upon the pressure being relieved on the slide cl the action of the upper end of the spring-piece e returns the slide to its initial position, and the spring lO returns the lever c and reloeks the slide.

On the face of the disk f, at its margin, are marked the numerals from 0 to 9, as seen in Fig. l, said numerals being equally spaced around the disk and adapted to show one at a time through a slot d10, formed in the easing. Above said slot, on the front of the casing a, are marked a second set of numerals from G to 9, these latter being closely spaced, so as to correspond to the distance between two of the numerals on the disk f. The latter has one hundred teeth, so that for each coin deposited the disk is moved through a space corresponding to one of the numerals on the casing a above the slot d10. By inspecting Fig. lit will be seen that the numeral 0 on the disk fis below the numeral 5 on the casing a, indicating that five coins have been deposited. The said numeral O will move along as coins are successively inserted until it comes underneath the numeral 9 on the casing and will then disappear, while at the same time the numeral l on the disk will appear beneath the numeral 0 on the casing, indicating the insertion of the tenth coin. This indication proceeds in regular order, as will be readily understood, up to 99, after which the two characters OO come into line, indicating the insertion` of the one-hundredth coin. As the last or one-hundredth coin is inserted the casing is unlocked by means of a lip or projection f2,

which is struck out of the margin of the disk f, coming into contact with the spring-catch a2 and depressing the end of the latter out of engagement with the stud CL4, thereby unlocking the back 2 from the main body of the casing. accumulated coins removed. Vhen the casing is opened, complete access is also given to the inclosed mechanism.

It will be seen from the above description that I have provided a simple and inexpensive article of the character indicated and one not liable to get out of order easily or capable of being easily tampered with.

I claiml. In an article of the character speeied, a register comprising a movable member marked with the numerals from O to 9, coin-controlled means for moving said member, and a stationary surface contiguous to said member and marked with the numerals from O to 9 in a space equal to the space between two of the numerals on said member.

2. In a device of the character specified, a manually-operated member, a coin-operated catch device adapted to be operated by the weight of a coin and to lock or release said member, an abutment arranged to form with the catch device an obstructed coinway in which the coin is arrested after the release of said manually-operated member, and a part connecting the catch device and the manually-operated member, whereby the latter is adapted to move the catch device tcfree the coin, said part being constructed as a spring to retract the catch device.

3. In an article of the character specified, a ratchet-wheel, aflexible spring cheek-pawl therefor continuo usly engaged with the wheelteeth, and a coin-controlled operating-pawl therefor, the two pawls forming parts of one piece of metal.

4. In an article of the character specied, a ratchet-wheel, a manually-operated member, a retracting-spring therefor, a pawl acting on the wheel, said spring and pawl forming parts of one piece of metal, and coin-controlled means controlling the coaetion of the manually-operated member and the ratchetwheel.

5. In an article of the character specified, a ratchet-wheel, a pawl acting thereon, a coinoperated member, and a controlling-spring for said member, said spring and pawl forming parts of one piece of metal.

6. In an article of the character specified, a manually-operated member, a retractingspring therefor, a coin-operated catch for said member, and a controlling-spring for said catch, said springs forming parts of one piece of met-al.

7. In an article of the character specified, two movable members, one being coin-operated, and a connection between the two, said vconnection acting as a retracting-spring for one member, and also as a positive connec- The casing may then be opened and the v IOO check-patri fory said device, Said spring and ro pawls being parts of a single piece of metal.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH E. FERLAND.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH GAUMOND, JOSEPH MONETTE. 

